


Off-Duty

by stephanericher



Category: Kuroko no Basuke | Kuroko's Basketball
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Assassins & Hitmen, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-03
Updated: 2015-06-03
Packaged: 2018-04-02 18:27:14
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,169
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4070095
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/stephanericher/pseuds/stephanericher
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>For a prompt on tumblr. Mibuchi keeps showing up when Mayuzumi's trying to do his job; eventually distraction takes over.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Off-Duty

**Author's Note:**

> For otchos on tumblr, hope you enjoyed! This was really fun to write; I love how snarky they can be. I hope you don't mind my choice of Seto as the target though
> 
> [prompt source](http://awful-aus.tumblr.com/post/119389278322/awful-au-279)

The first time Mayuzumi meets him is his first opportunity to make the kill. He’s been hired by some lowlife who wants Seto Kentarou dead, and it’s in Mayuzumi’s interest to finish him off and get the bounty. All things considered, there’s not much of a reason given for why Seto should be dead, but that’s all the better. The less personal it is the better Mayuzumi works. He’s found out a lot about the guy, like how his alarm system works and when he likes to sleep (all the time) and the back ways into his mansion. Getting into the bedroom is easy; Mayuzumi haltingly steps over toward the bed—smothering with a pillow isn’t quick and leaves evidence enough, but it gets the job done.

“Excuse me.”

Mayuzumi almost throws himself against the wall. Shit. Somehow he hadn’t noticed someone else entering the room—presumably Seto’s bodyguard. His hand is at his belt; Mayuzumi has no plans to test how trigger-quick he is. He steps into the moonlight, almost preening like a pretty bird—and he is quite pretty, tall and slim and well-dressed and much too flashy for Mayuzumi not to have noticed him from the database on Seto’s hired help and his observations around the mansion. He’d have remembered those eyelashes, that’s for damn sure.

“Are you here for me or for him?”

“You?” he raises an eyebrow. “You’re cute, but as if.”

“Well then,” says Mayuzumi. “It seems you’re trying to prevent me from doing my job, and we can’t have that.”

He’s been still so far, but a well-timed leap sends him over the bed and straight at the other man, knocking him to the floor. He’s trained enough to quiet the fall (aided, no doubt, but the disgusting wall-to-wall carpeting; Seto has no taste). The other man flips him over; he’s got size, both height and muscle, on Mayuzumi, and if he’s not careful he’ll end up dead and framed here—so he kicks the other man in the chest, and straight into the motion detector. A stalemate’s the best he can do for now; as the sirens begin to wail he scurries off, and the other man takes a different way out.

* * *

 

Mayuzumi, out of curiosity, tries to look him up—the time spent scanning the Tokyo databases could have been perhaps better spent on Seto’s new security, but the database will no doubt be rigged to catch anyone trying to look now, so there’s really no point in trying to get him at home anyway.

The assassin’s name is Mibuchi Reo; he’s a little bit younger than Mayuzumi and he works a day job at a tarot café, of all places. Odd. There’s something to be said, Mayuzumi supposes, for hiding in plain sight, although whether it’s anything convincing remains to be seen.

* * *

If there’s one thing Mayuzumi’s good at, it’s going unnoticed; at a black tie event where everyone’s clamoring to talk to a few specific people, milling around makes him even more invisible than usual. It’s quite nice, actually; he doesn’t really have to bother hiding the fact that he’s tracking Seto’s every movement with his eyes. It’s easy to see him slip out into the garden with a pretty woman in tow; it’s even easier to find a doorway on the upper level to an overlooking balcony to take a smoke break on.

Except Mibuchi’s already there.

“Fancy seeing you again, Mayuzumi-kun,” he purrs.

“Respect your elders, Mibuchi,” he replies, pulling out his pack of cigarettes.

In the garden below, Seto is sitting close to the woman on the edge of a fountain; they’re too close to take a chance on hitting her from this distance. Mayuzumi lights his cigarette and holds out the lighter but Mibuchi wrinkles his nose.

“Smoking is bad for your heart, you know.”

“And killing’s bad for your soul,” says Mayuzumi.

Seto and the woman eventually get up and go indoors; she’s like a shield between the balcony and the target, walking on the wrong side as they go toward the door. Mayuzumi and Mibuchi stay out a little while longer, even when the cigarette butt has long since been crushed under Mayuzumi’s heel.

* * *

This time they’re on a subway platform when Mayuzumi catches sight of him. Seto’s hands are stuffed in the pockets of his designer overcoat as he waits for the train; even rich businessmen can’t resist the convenience of the subway—and nor, for that matter, can the people hired to kill them (on the plus side, it makes following much easier; there’s no need to change cars and still keep track of the target). Mibuchi gives Mayuzumi a wink that might pass for a tic or an eyelash caught in his eye if Mayuzumi didn’t know him so damn well by now. The train arrives, on the dot as usual, and both of them stuff their way in (Mayuzumi swears he hears Mibuchi mutter something about how uncivilized this all is). Most of the passengers clear out at the next stop, though, and they stand next to each other, staring in opposite directions, Mayuzumi keeping Seto visible out of the corner of his eye.

“I’m beginning to think you’re enjoying the pleasure of my company a little bit too much,” says Mibuchi from the corner of his mouth.

Mayuzumi rolls his eyes. “You’re the one who’s always turning up at my kill opportunities. Are you sure it isn’t the other way around?”

“Why not both?” says Mibuchi, adjusting his hand on the strap.

Seto’s moved into the car next door, and Mayuzumi’s only halfheartedly keeping track of him. The thing is, Mibuchi’s a much more interesting man than Seto is, even if there’s no reward attached to him. And it’s not that Mayuzumi enjoys his company per se, but it’s a little bit better than being alone all the time, and it makes it easier to track Seto down.

* * *

Seto likes vacationing on tropical islands, sleeping out in the sun and getting a tan. It’s not too hard to forge travel documents, but Mayuzumi has to fight the urge to try and hijack the plane once he finds out who his seat mate is (he decides he’s made the right choice when Mibuchi buys him a drink).

Somehow, they manage to avoid seeing Seto at all for the duration of time he’s on the island. They’re both stationed on the other end, funnily enough next door to each other. The sun is blazing every day, and Mayuzumi’s too lazy to put on sunscreen and Mibuchi’s afraid of freckles so they stay in the air conditioning and lend each other books, discussing them to pass the time.

Before they know it they’ve stayed a month. One day, Mibuchi brings home a newspaper. The front-page story is about the mysterious death of an elusive businessman. Mayuzumi tosses it in the trash and Mibuchi gives him a proper kiss, long and sweet and salty like the ocean they never go near.


End file.
